View full size (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)Government Records Archivist Michael A. Breedlove, left, and historian Richard Bailey look at the original 1901 Alabama Constitution at the State of Alabama Department of Archives and History in this file photo taken Sept. 19, 2000,in Montgomery, Ala. A state Senate panel has approved a measure that would allow Alabama voters to decide whether there should be a constitutional convention to overhaul the document.

State Sen. Rodger Smitherman: Birmingham Democrat sponsored bill calling for statewide vote on whether there should be a constitutional convention in Alabama.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The debate over rewriting Alabama's constitution has resumed at the Legislature.

The
Senate Constitution and Elections Committee unanimously passed a bill
today that would allow Alabama citizens to vote on whether to have a
constitutional convention to rewrite the constitution.

The bill,
sponsored by Democratic Sen. Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham, now goes
to the full Senate, where similar legislation has died in past years.

Alabama's 1901 constitution is the longest and most amended of any state constitution.